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Die Entführung aus dem Serail, OAE, Queen Elizabeth Hall | reviews, news & interviews

Die Entführung aus dem Serail, OAE, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Die Entführung aus dem Serail, OAE, Queen Elizabeth Hall

A newly commissioned narration draws all eyes to Mozart's most neglected opera

Susan Gritton: A powerful force as Mozart's most virtuosic of heroines

A problem child in any number of ways, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail doesn’t always get the professional attention it deserves, certainly not from London companies. The opera’s last outing at the Royal Opera House dates back almost a decade, and you’d have to look even further back to find it in English National Opera’s performing catalogue. If a director manages to get past the knotty Orientalist issues of staging then there are those of the dialogue, not to mention two of Mozart’s most taxing vocal roles in Belmonte and Konstanze. All of which places the focus firmly onto semi-staged performances such as last night’s superb effort by Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

A problem child in any number of ways, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail doesn’t always get the professional attention it deserves, certainly not from London companies. The opera’s last outing at the Royal Opera House dates back almost a decade, and you’d have to look even further back to find it in English National Opera’s performing catalogue. If a director manages to get past the knotty Orientalist issues of staging then there are those of the dialogue, not to mention two of Mozart’s most taxing vocal roles in Belmonte and Konstanze. All of which places the focus firmly onto semi-staged performances such as last night’s superb effort by Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Frédéric Antoun as Belmonte conjured the smoothest and most untroubled of lines from Mozart's vertiginous writing

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